“Fargo” (1st 4 Seasons). “Ozark.” “American Horror Story” (1st to 7th Season.)

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"Fargo." Hulu. First 4 Seasons. Crime, drama, dark comedy. Of the entire project inspired by the 1996 Coen brothers film of the same name, Season 4 is my least liked. But I wanna talk about Season 4 briefly. Set in Kansas City, Missouri in 1950, it is about an all-black crime syndicate that flees the Jim Crow South, and then figures in contentious relationship with the Kansas City mafia. Despite a winnable cast: Chris Rock, Jessie Buckley, Jason Schwartzman, Ben Whishaw, Jack Huston with few episodes appearance by Timothy Olyphant, 4th Season doesn’t have the addictive weirdness of the first three. But hey Ms Buckley’s Oraetta Mayflower and Salvatore Esposito’s Gaetano Fadda are worth the while. 🎥📺📽




“Ozark.” Netflix. Crime/Narcos & Family. 4 Seasons, 4th/final Season coming. Reeling from a messed-up marriage, couple Marty and Wendy Byrde (Jason Bateman and Laura Linney) relocate their family to the Ozarks for money laundering. Their boss, who else, a Mexican cartel. Of course, you’ve seen hundreds of that kinda story. But a compelling movie or series is a set of plotpoints that keep/s on spinning and then inhales/exhales to a well-structured mesh (sic!) That would be “Ozark.” Jason Bateman has mastered the art of lookin’ harassed hubby in the same way that Scott McNairy perfected the art of lookin’ harassed in general. (Scoot isn’t in this series though.)



       But the real attraction in this caper is Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore, with added kudos to Lisa Emery as the scheming evil Darlene Snell. Plus guest Tom Pelphrey as Wendy’s bro Ben, who suffers from bipolar disorder. Fine actor. 🎥📺📽


“American Horror Story.” Hulu. Horror. First to 7th Season. One of those that you don’t wanna stop watching but you can’t. The anthology is still ongoing, I think. First I gotta give high-fives to Kyle Cooper, the dude who crafted the grisly, macabre, and eerie opening credits. Makes you imagine that the series’ creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk also looks as terrifying. LOL! Save for graphic violence and non-PG gore, this series isn’t for the queasy and touchy. Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events and historical episodes which I always bite.

       And yes the acting is superb: Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Kathy Bates, Denis O'Hare, Angela Bassett etcetera. But after the 7th Season, I am done. I started Season 8: “Apocalypse,” but after two episodes, I started to puke imaginary pukes. Silly, silly. Enough for me. 🎥📺📽

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